5 Most Punishing Indie Games on Steam Right Now

Super Meat Boy

There are plenty of platformers renowned for controller-smashing difficulty, but few are as iconic as Super Meat Boy. Created by Edmund McMillen, who would later go on to make another indie classic in The Binding of Isaac, it's not uncommon to feel that the odds are utterly stacked against you in this game, as you stare down a gauntlet of spikes, buzzsaws, rockets, and countless other deathtraps.

Like in Titan Souls and Hotline Miami, you don't have health, so the game demands perfection as you navigate the deadly obstacle course in your way. One might worry that this would make the game feel unfair, but when you die you respawn immediately, so there's no waiting time between attempts. Coupled with the extremely responsive controls, it's not hard to see why this game has remained a shining example, if a brutally difficult one, of its genre.

What are some of your favorite hard indie games? Let us know in the comments!